Amiga Collections: MegaDisc/MegaDisc 29 (1992-07)(MegaDisc Digital Publishing)(AU)(Disk 1 of 2)[WB].zip/MegaDisc 29 (1992-07)(MegaDisc Digital Publishing)(AU)(Disk 1 of 2)[WB].adf/Articles_II/Amiga_v_Clones

Text File | 1992-08-01 | 11KB | 243 lines

                              Send In The Clones

                        (Don't bother, they're here!)

                                By John Knight


   <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< 29 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


   Recently, I took advantage of a scheme promoted by the company, to allow
  easy purchase of an IBM clone by basically giving interest free loans to
  the staff. (Mind you, the staff still pay the full price, and since the
  ownership doesn't pass to the user for 3 years, I can't claim it on tax,
  either.) What follows, is an account of my reasons for the purchase, and
  the many differences I found once I entered the IBM camp.  Please forgive
  me, if I have made any serious errors, as I have only been looking at the
  IBM side for around 3 weeks.


So Why Go IBM?

   Let's get this straight, right from the start. For my own use, I find the
  Amiga satisfactory. No, great! I love the Amiga. Unfortunately, in the
  line of work I'm in (systems programming), the ownership of am Amiga won't
  open doors for me - owning a clown, will. So, my choice is purely
  career-oriented. If I would have been in any other line of work, aside
  from computers, I would have continued with the Amiga only. As it is, I
  now have 2 machines - my A500 with v1.2, and an Arrow 386-DX. Now that's
  what you call materialism!


Those Who Have Gone Before

   This was a large step for me, but not for mankind. You hear plenty of
  people griping about the costs of the Amiga and its antiquated 68000
  processor. So as to justify their new purchase, they have to continue to
  rub it in. Owning both, and knowing what's possible on the Amiga side, I
  can sit back and make (almost) unbiased judgements.


Speed

   Alright, to the speed freaks, yes the Arrow does fly, mainly because it
  has a hard drive and my Amiga doesn't. But I have seen surprising results
  with some applications. I saw a flight simulator demonstrated in a local
  store and it certainly wasn't as smooth as the Amiga, although the detail
  was sharper which gave rise to a slight "jaggie" effect with the graphics.
  The Amiga's graphics chips give it a surprising edge over the clowns, as
  far as speed and smoothness is concerned.


Software

   My Arrow (I call her Fairlea), came with DOS 5.0, Windows 3.1 and 4 meg
  ram. Ami is still running v1.2 and has 3 meg ram. For all the Windows
  knockers, v3.1 is certainly nice to look at and I have no complaints with
  it. I was also lucky enough to obtain Word For Windows, and Excel For
  Windows, as I am doing lots of work at home. Now these packages are
  certainly professional compared to the cheap stuff that I have - PageSetter
  and Maxiplan, but they should be because they're 4-6 times the price! I am
  sure that there is plenty of Amiga software which is almost as classy, and
  still half the price of the clown stuff.  Notice that Word For Windows and
  Excel For Windows, have the terms "For Windows" tacked on the back. These
  have to be especially written to work with Windows and, for that reason,
  are much more expensive than their non-Windows counterparts. We Amigans
  don't realise how lucky we are! You tend to take the old Workbench for
  granted, don't you?  So in summary, yes there are good software titles, but
  you'll pay for them dearly.


Public Domain / Shareware

   Here's something else we take for granted:- 880k disks packed full of
  goodies from the public domain or shareware. On the clown side, USUALLY
  you get one title per disk, and the disk will cost you from 2-10 times as
  much as an Amiga one. (Remember, there's more on the Amiga one, too!). A
  large proportion of the clown stuff is also crippled - can't save or print.
  Sure there are heaps of titles, but I don't think the Amiga would be far
  behind. Also, the IBM side seems to lack the artistry, talent, call it
  what you will, that the Amiga side appreciates.


Magazines On Disks

   Yes, you can get these, too. I tried one, but I won't get it again.
  Without naming names, the particular disk cost $5 and unpacked to somewhere
  around 2.5 meg, if my memory serves me correctly. Presentation was great
  (er, sorry Tim, it was better than Megadisc in this respect) using a
  storyboard format and having occasional moving graphics. So what's wrong?
  The content, that's what! It was just so boring. Hardly any news, no
  feedback, hints, tips, worth mentioning, and also contained a number of
  ads. Megadisc is 10 times better than that. Long live Megadisc!


Graphics

   As mentioned earlier, the graphics on the clowns are clearer and more
  detailed, but this gives rise to more "jaggies". Movement on screen can
  still be jerky. I would imagine that a top-of-the-range Amiga would knock
  it for six - remember I'm still using 1.2 with a 1084 monitor. There are
  so many standards to choose from, too, and some games use different formats
  to others. Also, there are different graphic formats. Here is a sample;
  PC, EPSF, PCX, TIFF, GIF. There are also a host of others that are product
  dependent and can't be used by other programs! There appear to be no
  general viewers and conversion utilities just don't cover all the
  possibilities.

   Very confusing, just as confusing as the sound capabilities and memory
  configurations.


Sounding Out The Opposition

   The Arrow has a stock standard single piffle speaker which "tries" to
  produce sound. OK, so you can buy a "card" to lift that aspect, but to get
  stereo will cost you close to $400! Cheaper combinations are possible and
  2 of the most popular, Adlib and Sound Blaster, will cost you a bit less
  than $200, but they ARE mono. They also come with piffle speakers and
  inbuilt amplifiers. All I want, is a couple of RCA sockets and stereo, but
  no-one seems to produce that - you'll have to pay for an amplifier and
  speakers that you don't want, because they don't measure up.  Get this -
  the IBM camp are amazed when they can get their machines to talk! Now WE
  all deleted this stuff from OUR disks to make room, didn't we? I certainly
  treated it as a bit of a gimmick. How many of you out there actually use
  the speech facilities?

   To make matters worse, games are written for specific sound boards and
  most of these are not compatible. There are at least 10 of them - I've
  stopped counting - and just to show that I'm not lying, look at this list.
  Adlib, Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Pro, Sound Blaster 2, Thunderboard,
  Sound Master, Roland, LAP, Covox, Disney, Tandy. Luckily, most games will
  work with AdLib or Sound Blaster cards.


Memory Worries

   MS-DOS is plagued by a limitation which it has inherited since its birth
  and cannot throw off. Strictly speaking, the operating system won't
  address past 64K. This is not a mistake, I did say 64K. Some clever
  trickery with page sets and overlays, allows this to be extended to 640K.
  Programs have to be written with this in mind. Unlike the Amiga's
  configuration (where you really only have to worry about chip ram and the
  rest), you have "expanded" and "extended" memory and you have to fiddle
  with your system and memory configuration to tune it. Windows can use more
  memory than 640k by allowing the use of multiple virtual machines. DOS
  can't. Unless you have Windows, having more than 1 meg will be a waste.
  If you DO have Windows, you should go for around 4 meg. Having a 4 meg IBM
  clown is approximately equivalent to having a 1.5 meg Amiga.  OS/2, on the
  other hand, isn't plagued by the old memory limitations imposed on DOS, but
  you'll need around 8 meg for it to run nicely.


My Kingdom For A Mouse

   An optional extra that will cost you extra, too. It won't work with
  everything either and operates differently in Windows to how it does in DOS
  (if you can get it to work at all in DOS). It will need to be setup in
  your CONFIG.SYS file. Life wasn't meant to be easy.


Hardware

   The IBM camp is keen on cards - a card for this, a card for that. This
  can be handy for upgrading though, since all you may have to do is change a
  card. Various SCSI devices may require different SCSI controllers and this
  would mean more than one card may need to be purchased. Here is a sample
  of your probable requirements.

 - A SCSI Controller Card
 - A Games card
 - A Parallel Card
 - A Video Graphics card
 - A Serial card
 - A Sound Card

   Now, have we got any room left? I'm not sure - I haven't opened up
  Fairlea yet.

   Hardware prices are generally cheaper than on the Amiga, due to the
  volumes and competition on the IBM side. Also high-density floppy disk
  drives are more available. Can't wait to see what happens with the new
  Amiga's venture into the Flash Card memory domain though. This may
  seriously threaten hard and floppy drives alike, in both camps.


Software

   What I've had, has been very good, but then it's more expensive, too!
  Productivity titles will cost you 2-3 times more, games will be the same or
  slightly ($10) more expensive on the IBM side. Utilities are terribly
  expensive and don't seem to have as much competition from the PD sector,
  compared to the Amiga.


Viruses

   From what I've read, there are more of them and they're harder to control.
  I don't think I've had any yet, but who knows?


Filing System

   MS-DOS still uses the antiquated IBM file naming standard of 8 characters
  followed by a dot and a further 3 character extension. It's bloody hard to
  name anything in 8 characters and still make it meaningful. There are some
  utilities around that allow the standard to be extended, but then you're
  running 2 standards, which is downright dangerous. Imagine having some PCX
  clipart, thereby consuming the 3 character extension with the letters
  "PCX". I have a collection of pictures of Dalmatians in various poses. I
  can name them accordingly. Eg. DallyLooksLeftEarsUp. This saves me time
  when trying to workout which picture I want to incorporate in my
  publications. Trying conveying something similar in 8.3 characters. This
  problem is even worse due to unavailability of graphics standards and no
  general viewer.  OS/2 doesn't have this problem. Like the Amiga, it allows
  meaningful names.


Summary

   Well, I've had my say. Some will say I'm biased - maybe they're right,
  but at least I have pointed out some of the major differences that you
  would find if you were to defect to the other camp.

   I can honestly say that I like both machines, and for different reasons.
  I like the speed, graphics clarity and productivity software, on the clown,
  but the graphic movement, sound and PD titles for the Amiga. The Amiga is
  great for tinkering around, too!

   If you have to make the decision, make sure you do it for the right
  reasons. If you have no need to conform to the mainstream, then stay with
  the Amiga - I think it's a more fun machine.

John Knight
Boronia, VIC.


   <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< 29 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>